Promise to a Dying Man
by Doppler Effect
Summary: Strange things begin happening when a friend of the neighborhood children shows up. What may be even stranger than the odd occurrences is that his interest in the Hughes family may lead to some turns of events.
1. Chapter 1

_**Part One**_

_October 3, 1911_

"…a girl! And her eyes are so pretty, just like her mother's – who is adorable too, but she's not as adorable right now as our new daughter – and she has these cute little toes and-"

"Hughes," Mustang gritted out. "At this point, I'm only glad you finally had a child only so I can stop hearing about your wife and her pregnancy! _Please_. You've been talking for the last-" he shot the clock a look "-two and a half ho – _two and a half hours?! Jesus, it's four in the morning! I have to get up for work in an hour! Are you insane?!_"

"I knew you would love to hear all about her, so I made sure to call you before you went into work so you could tell everyone else _all_ about her! I'm waiting for them to get done with all the tests they have to run. Which isn't a problem, since she's a perfect little-"

_Click_.

Hughes stared at the phone in confusion for a moment. "Mustang? Hello? That's weird, the line must have cut off…" The secretary at the front desk looked up over her magazine at him in vague disbelief. He explained, "His office has trouble with the wiring a lot. I get cut off all the time." She nodded doubtfully, as if sorry for this poor deluded man.

He walked down the hallway towards Gracia's room. She seemed to be doing fine, just a bit tired. She had slept most of the last six hours after the delivery and hadn't been very coherent when she was awake. He had spent the time either hovering over his daughter or making calls to everyone he knew.

A doctor was walking out of the room as he approached it. She smiled at him and held the door open a few seconds longer. He nodded his thanks, smiled, and walked inside. The doctor let the door go and it swung shut gently. Gracia was sitting up and awake, holding Elicia in her arms. A light blue blanket was wrapped around the baby, leaving only the head and feet bare. The child was fast asleep, mouth open slightly.

Hughes took a seat on the plastic chair by the bed. "How is she?" he asked quietly, smiling.

Gracia shrugged. "As tired as I am, I think. She's slept a lot and hasn't cried much while she was awake." She sighed, her expression becoming a bit more solemn as she leaned back against the pillows.

Hughes's smile faded a bit. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, it's just…" She looked at Hughes. "The two of us have seen things eye to eye on everything but religion. It's an important part of my life, but you don't…"

"…share any of the same views," he finished when she trailed off. "Right." He looked at their daughter a bit longer. "Well… Religion's not really a big thing here in the east, so it'd give my side an advantage if we just said we should let her choose…"

Gracia nodded. "We'd have to go somewhere else to find a large church she could attend."

Hughes sighed. "I'm sorry, but recently…" He looked up at her. "I take it you haven't been keeping up much with the news lately."

"About what?"

"Military."

"I haven't had time."

"I know. About a year ago, Mustang was out looking for potential state alchemists." Gracia nodded – she knew Mustang. "Well, there had been a paper mix-up. He went out to look for two in particular who showed extreme potential. He was told ahead of time that he was going to find two brothers in their thirties. When he got there, he found an eleven year old child in a wheel chair with two limbs missing and a suit of armor that held the soul of a ten year old." Hughes looked down, fiddling with the blanket, twisting it around in his fingers. "The office is really stressed right now because… the older brother just finished rehabilitation for his new automail limbs. He's going to be here in a few days for the exam. I can't believe in a god who would let this happen to those two boys. They don't even have family…"

Gracia grimaced, reaching out with her free hand to take Hughes's right one. He looked up at her and smiled sadly. "Sorry. I'm a party pooper."

"Where are they going to work?"

"Under Mustang. He found them, he has to deal with them." Hughes cracked a grin. "Ha ha, Mustang has kids!" Something about that struck a funny bone in him, and he bent over, holding his sides, laughing. "Mustang has kids!"

Gracia gave her husband a weird look.

* * *

_October 3, 1914_

Gracia set a cup of tea down in front of Winry. The young girl nodded her thanks and cupped her hands around it, waiting for the hot liquid to cool. Gracia sat down opposite her, adopting a similar position. A loud giggle came from upstairs followed by Hughes's louder tenor laughter. They settled down a few minutes later. Gracia smiled at Winry, and the two shared a knowing look.

"What was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Winry asked a minute of silence later.

Gracia sighed. "It's… a little strange, but I thought you should be made aware of it. It's never been harmful, and it's been… oddly comforting on occasion, but you should still know."

Winry smiled. "I lived with the Elrics, remember? I'm used to strange."

"Not like this." Gracia sipped at her tea. "There's someone in the house. We thought it wasn't anything to be worried about, though, because… The one thing Maes and I could never agree on was religion. So when Elicia came along, we decided that she shouldn't be influenced one way or another by our opinions. So we compromised, and suggested she talk to someone else before bed instead of praying. I figured He would understand."

"So, who did she talk to?" Winry asked.

"Fairy tales. People like Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy. Well, the person who keeps coming… She says it's Jack Frost. Whoever he is, he's never taken anything. The only thing he's done is play with Elicia. She absolutely adores him. He stops by about once a week, sometimes less. Maes and I have never actually seen him though, and that's what makes me so worried."

"Wait, so he's never talked to you before?"

"No, but that's the thing! He's been _in the room_, I swear it, and we can't see him." Gracia inhaled deeply, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. "I know it sounds crazy, but it's what happens. Elicia doesn't have a very good imagination for games with herself. She has to be with someone to play. Whenever he supposedly comes around, she can talk to him and play entire games. Winry, both sides of the game board move. There are definitely two people playing. But she's the only one there."

"Have you ever looked around the room to see if he was hiding somewhere?" Winry asked, worried.

"All the time, but he must be an extremely good hider. I've even looked outside to see if he had climbed out the window. If I ask her where he is, she just gives me this look and says, 'You can't see him?' It's like he's right there, right in the room in front of me, but only she can see him. I've asked around, and some other parents have had the same thing happen. They all call him Jack Frost."

"Do they all describe him the same way?"

"Yeah. He looks the same to each child. Winry, some of the children who know him… The children don't know each other. There's no way it's just a joke they're all sharing."

Winry sat back, cradling her tea thoughtfully. "But he seems friendly enough?"

"Oh, extremely. He excels at starting snowball fights and getting school cancelled for entire weeks at a time. We just don't know who he is."

* * *

There was a shuffling noise from across the room, coming from the other side of the door. Hughes ignored it. The door creaked open, and two pairs of footsteps padded inside. A light weight sat down at the end of the bed by his and Gracia's feet. His wife didn't seem to be up yet, so he tried to disentangle himself from the blanket gently before he sat up.

He heard Winry whisper, "Maybe we should just go back to sleep. I'm sure it was just a dream."

"No, Jack said it's not safe."

"Is Jack here?"

"No, he's watching the burglar to make sure he didn't see us get up."

Hughes finally managed to get out from under the blankets, but at that point it seemed Gracia needed to be up anyway. He tapped her shoulder before sitting up fully and swinging his feet around to the floor. He reached over and felt for Elicia at the end of the bed. "Elicia," he said gently. "Did you say someone was in the house?"

"Yes. They're downstairs, I think. That's what Jack said a few minutes ago, anyway." As his eyes adjusted, he could see that she was clinging onto Winry's hand. The older girl's hair was tousled and she looked very confused. "He said we should come in here just in case."

A thud came from downstairs like someone falling. Whoever it was cursed loudly before they remembered to be quiet. Hughes tensed in the next few seconds of silence. Then he carefully stood up so as not to make the floorboards creak. "Winry, Elicia, stay here, okay?" he gently asked. Gracia was already standing up as well, walking across the room to where the phone was. Winry bit her lip, looking like she wanted to do something but didn't know what.

Hughes began to walk towards the door, but Gracia frowned at him, shaking her head. Under her breath so Elicia couldn't hear, she said, "The police'll take care of it."

Hughes paused, and then said, "I can't believe I'm really saying this, but Elicia has to be right. This Jack person is actually in the house, downstairs watching the burglar. …It would really suck if he got injured because of that."

There was another moment of silence, and then he could see Gracia's lips starting to quirk up in a smile she was trying to suppress. "Honey, Jack can turn invisible to adults."

"What if his invisibility charm fails him if he gets nervous?"

Gracia closed her eyes, biting her lip to stop from laughing. "I don't think that's the case, dear."

"But what if it is?"

There was another loud bang from downstairs. "Son of a b-!" He abruptly cut himself off, remembering that he was _breaking into a house_.

"He seems to be doing fine by himself," Gracia pointed out. "Why don't you let the expert handle it?" She reached for the phone and dialed the emergency number. It began ringing. She turned to continue the conversation with her husband, but the door was just closing behind him. Gracia sighed, shaking her head, but she was smiling.

Hughes made his way down the hallway as stealthily as possible. He imagined that if you believed you were something or someone, you really were for that time. At least, to some extent. So he imagined himself to be one of the Xingese ninjas, as quick and nimble as could be. He could walk across a floor of bells without making a sound. He had trained in the temples of Kah'zal and Genphet. If he so wished, he could take on this burglar while walking on his hands. The master of the Shaheit temple had been his teacher for two decades, and he would do well to honor his-

Wait, the Shaheit area had been taken over by the Drachmans about fifteen years ago. Crap.

He reached the top of the stairs and leaned over the balcony slightly to see if he could see anyone below. While he couldn't see any movement, he could hear faint shuffling sounds right beneath his feet in the kitchen. Hughes carefully walked down a few steps, not completely sure what he was doing. Was he going to ask the guy if he was here for delivering the milk or something? Maybe he was a real estate agent.

Yeah, or maybe he should just ask if he was Hughes's great-aunt, who was very dead right now. That seemed like it'd be more realistic.

He hit the loose step. It didn't make a sound, and he breathed a sigh of relief. He stepped off to go down another level… and it creaked. Hughes froze. So did the robber.

In the kitchen, the stranger turned to face him. He seemed unsure if he could actually see someone there or not and was nervous to begin with. The man took a step forward to investigate.

Hughes held his breath for a few seconds, but then realized it wasn't going to do him any good to have to tussle if he was out of breath. He silently blew it out. To his surprise, a puff of smoke rose up in front of his eyes. It was forty degrees outside, wasn't in? Why was it so cold?

Oh yeah. Robber. Why didn't Hughes listen to Gracia more often?

Then the man slipped and fell. Again. His head cracked painfully on the ground as he did and he let out a groan. He moved feebly for a moment and then slumped back down. Hughes waited a minute and then walked down the rest of the stairs, not bothering to be quiet. The man was passed out. He flipped on a light and looked at the poor guy in front of him. Then he looked up and around the room. There was no one else there. Almost every surface glittered with frost, and there were several slick patches of ice along the ground. Hughes didn't blame the guy for slipping so often.

"Daddy?"

Hughes turned around quickly, surprised to see the rest of the house's occupants on the stairs behind him. Gracia was holding onto the other two. It looked like Elicia had at least convinced Winry and the two had ended up dragging Gracia along.

"Jack says the thought was nice, but unnecessary."

As she spoke, a hint of frost appeared on the stair's railing. Then it was gone, and a trail appeared on the floor of the kitchen as if someone were moving around the room in boredom. Hughes watched the floor as his daughter spoke.

"Uh… Tell him thanks?"

"Daddy," she chided, grinning, "he can hear you!"

The temperature in the room suddenly went back to normal. Hughes could no longer see his breath, and the ice on the floor turned into puddles. A faint layer of dew lay over most of the surfaces in the kitchen. The room had returned to normal.

"Did he have to leave?" Hughes asked uncertainly.

"He's kind of busy."

"Well, I would expect so…" He traded a look with the other two on the stairs. This was getting out of their hands.

* * *

Hughes spent the entire walk to work thinking over the events of the night before. He was pretty sure he had gone mad or someone had been playing an elaborate joke. But in the morning, the police had still been there, asking questions over and over again to make sure they got the story straight. At four in the morning, Hughes, Gracia, and Winry had exchanged looks, and told the police about how Elicia must have accidentally spilled some water that morning while getting a drink and splashed it on the floor, and the burglar had been unlucky enough to slip and smack his head. The police were gone ten minutes later.

He nearly walked into Mustang. The only reason he stopped quickly enough was because of the alchemist's statement.

"Hughes. Tell me I'm dreaming."

"You're dreaming," he immediately replied without actually taking a moment to see why his friend was saying that. Then he took his eyes off the sidewalk he had been so carefully watching and looked up at the military building he had arrived at for work. He blinked. "Uh…"

The entire entrance into the place had been covered with about eight feet of snow.

"I thought it was a little chilly outside for autumn…"

"Hughes, the snow plows are all buried under the snow because no one thought they were going to need them this early. They're going to have to dig out the garage doors before they even think about getting the plows out onto the roads!" Mustang grinned. "You know what this means?"

"Lots of shoveling for us?"

"A chance to test my alchemy against snow!"

"Not today."

Mustang's grin turned into a look of confusion. Hughes grabbed his arm and dragged him away from the building. As they crossed into an alley adjacent to the military base, they could hear Hawkeye call out, "Colonel? … Colonel!" She clearly thought someone was ditching their duty. Not like this happened often or anything…

"Oh, she's going to kill me later," Mustang muttered, but didn't seem to care. "Hey, Hughes, what's up?"

Hughes glanced around the alley they were standing in for a moment. A clump of snow fell from a balcony and he flinched. He tugged Mustang along after him in a hurry to get out of there. "Hughes, what the hell's the matter?"

"Not here."

"Why not?"

"Because he's listening."

As a matter of fact, "he" was.

"How do you know?"

"Because he just is. And he's probably laughing at me as well."

"He" was doing that, too.

"Hughes…?"

A minute later found them in a café a block away from Central's base. The two ordered cups of tea after sitting down. The waitress walked away to deliver the order. Mustang was eyeing his friend strangely, trying to determine if something had been knocked loose in his friend's head or not. Hughes was nervously wringing his hands, not sure where to start.

Mustang tried to ask his question again. "What happened?"

"We were burgled last time." He paused, and then amended, "Well, the guy tried. He slipped and knocked himself out."

"So everything's okay," Mustang said, leaning back in relief.

"No. Mustang, he slipped on _ice_."

"You think it had something to do with the freak weather pattern?"

"I _know_ it did. And I know who's doing it."

Mustang was back to looking at his friend like he was crazy. "Hughes, it's just the weather. Something weird happens every year. Remember how we had the drought that one summer and then it dumped rain all throughout the winter? It never got below zero degrees.*"

"No, no, this goes back to something else." He paused for a few seconds, trying to figure out how to say this. "Okay, so you know how I told you Elicia was always talking to the Sandman and Easter Bunny and all those other people?"

"Vaguely. I also remember you telling me it was absolutely adorable and-"

"Well, everything she does is adorable. A while back, she told us that something had happened and there was a new person in that group called Jack Frost. This guy would come to talk to her more often than the others would. Seems like he had more time on his hands or something. It was around that time that things started getting… strange. Chairs would move of their own accord, our house was always cold, and Elicia… she's using words that are way too big for her to have ever heard before and she knows about things across the world before even I hear about them at work! It's not just her, either. All the kids under a certain age in the area are doing the same thing. Mustang, I know this sounds crazy… but there's someone there. You know me. You know I wouldn't be saying this unless there was absolutely no other possibility."

They both stopped the conversation as the waitress came back with the cups of tea. Both murmured thanks and waited for her to get out of hearing radius before continuing the conversation.

Mustang sighed suddenly, running a hand through his hair. "Couldn't it just be alchemy or something?"

"There's never a reaction and there're no signs of it after the event."

"So the only remaining option, you think is that a strange guy is running around, talking to kids, stopping burglars and freezing puddles of water?" Mustang summarized.

Hughes laughed nervously. "I know it sounds ridiculous-"

"Slightly."

"But it's the only thing I can come up with."

"Well, let me know if-"

He yanked his hands away from his cup of tea suddenly. The liquid would've splashed if it hadn't been frozen solid. He rubbed his hands together, trying to warm them up from the sudden cold. A layer of frost covered the table an inch in diameter around the cup.

Mustang and Hughes exchanged glances.

"Oh."

* * *

*For anyone who uses the Fahrenheit system: This is the same as saying below 32 degrees. I assume the Amestrians would use Celsius because it's a system that makes more sense and is the most common. Why the hell do Americans use Fahrenheit anyway? (Asking this as one of them.)


	2. Chapter 2

_**Part Two**_

Jack would've been lying if he said he felt bad about harassing Hughes. He wasn't though, so there was no real point in even pretending. He even had Hughes's friend looking at empty alleys weirdly now. It was _hilarious_. The two had wisely not confided in anyone else, since they were not even sure what was going on. The best part was that they kept trying to look at it analytically, debating on how they would best be able to get into contact with him and understand who he was. They were _never_ going to see him at that rate.

Winry had been staying at the Hughes household for a few days now. Whenever she was in an empty room, she would start talking to herself now. He wasn't always there, but the thought counted. She thought _something_ was there, because he had glimpsed her looking in his general direction on more than one occasion. It was more than a glance, though. It was the reflexive quick turn that people made when they were positive they saw something out of the corner of their eye. She would scan that corner for a few minutes, and then turn back to whatever she had been doing with a defeated sigh.

Bunny stared at him in denial. "You're telling me the reason that none of us have been able to get a hold of you… the reason why there's been almost no snow days… the reason you're not doing your job… _is because you've been too busy scaring a house into believing in you?!"_

"Oh, they're never going to see me," Jack said, rather gleefully. Bunny was so adorable when he angry. It wasn't hard to picture him as his original size, and that just made it so hard not to laugh at him outright. He was never telling Bunny that, though. He was pretty sure he'd die. Painfully.

"You get back to work before I throttle you!"

Maybe he was going to die anyway.

"No, Bunny, you don't understand-"

"I understand perfectly."

Jack paused for a few seconds, thinking about how best to put this. "Come on. Let me show you something."

He hopped off the roof, and the wind swept out to catch him. He flew across town, scanning the building tops for one in particular. A few times, he saw a furry head appear on roofs as Bunny jumped from building to building or used his tunnels, watching the Guardian in the sky to keep up with him. Jack landed a minute later on the hospital roof. Bunny appeared beside him and followed as Jack clambered down the side of the building to the ground. In retrospect, it probably would've been easier to just land on the ground… Bunny's expression told him that he had already figured this out.

Jack walked around until he found one window in particular. He got his fingernails into the crevice and pulled it open. He swung his legs over the sill and climbed in. Bunny jumped in next to him.

Alphonse looked up when a few papers fluttered to the floor from the wind. "Nii-san? Was the window open before?"

Bunny turned quickly to face Alphonse. He jumped when he saw the teenager's state of being. He whipped around just as quickly to look at the other two in the room when Edward responded.

"No, I don't think so…"

Winry grunted, yanking a screw into place on the automail. Edward yelped, and she rapped him lightly on the shoulder with her wrench. "Sorry, he probably followed me here."

"Who?" the older brother asked.

"The Hughes's house's poltergeist. Well, more like Elicia's friend."

The brothers gave her blank looks.

"Jack Frost."

Edward snorted. "The Easter Bunny would've been more realistic."

Bunny barely noticed the comment, too busy frowning heavily at Jack. "What happened to them?"

"I don't know the details, but it sounds like they tried to bring their mother back using alchemy after she died. The price was too high, and what they had didn't cut it. They're stuck like this. The older brother joined the military so he could travel and find a way to get their bodies returned to normal." Jack twirled his staff absently, moving out of range of anyone. Although the only person who would be hit would be Bunny…

"They can't even be seventeen…"

"I think the older brother's fifteen. Winry here is staying at the Hughes house while she's here repairing Edward's automail. The two brothers recently got into a fight, almost died, and they're staying here until they're back to top shape so they can go out into the front line again." Jack planted the end of his staff on the ground and flipped up onto it, releasing his hands from it as he did so. He crouched on the crook of the staff, folding his arms on top of his knees. "Maes Hughes works with Roy Mustang. Mustang's the Flame Alchemist, a colonel, and in charge of these two. He acts a lot like… actually, you two have a lot of similar traits. But he doesn't even bother acting like he cares about anyone else. It's funny, because that's his biggest lie. He protects these two as best as he can, but…" Edward gave a sharp sound again as Winry tried to readjust something.

"He can't be there for them all the time."

Jack nodded. "Mustang's moving up the ranks. He wants to run the country. The guy who's currently in charge sent the entire military out to commit genocide against another country. Mustang plans to overthrow him, and he's got a group of people who support him. Ed and Al here don't always agree with him verbally, but their actions speak loud enough. The two are going to be there, I suspect, when Mustang takes over. He, in turn, is supporting their attempt to return their bodies to their original form."

"Harsh," Bunny murmured. "Has North-?"

"They burned their home down so they couldn't return. I doubt they've even celebrated Christmas for the last few years."

Bunny watched the scene in silence for a few moments. Winry took her knee out of Ed's back, to his visible relief, as she finished up. She stepped off the bed as she spoke, "Alright, now don't go messing that – _up_!" She yelped the last word as she stumbled backward into Bunny. The rabbit reached out reflexively to steady her. She whipped around quickly, looking up at Bunny. The Guardian stood there, stunned for a few moments. Then the moment was over, and Winry looked confused. "Alphonse…?" But the youngest of the three was still sitting on the ground. She'd only been looking up because she'd been expecting to see her friend, not the Easter Bunny.

Bunny stepped out of the way in case she walked into him again. He looked a little shaken, and Jack didn't blame him for it. "So… you're trying to help them."

"As best as I can. I inadvertently caused her to start believing in me… Not really sure how that happened… It'll probably go away sometime soon. She's walked into me a few times, too, or seen me out of the corner of her eye, but she's never been able to interact with me like a true believer. It's rather strange."

Bunny stopped next to Jack's staff and the two watched the scene. Winry was packing up her equipment and anything else she had in the room. It looked like she was done for the day. The other two were also standing up and getting ready to go. "Looks like they got released from the hospital," Bunny noted.

"Yeah. Good luck to them," Jack replied softly.

"You're going to stay here and try to make things easier?"

"I'll try."

Bunny shifted his weight uneasily. "Look, you've still got a job to do."

"I know."

"There are other kids who are suffering."

"I get that."

"But these kids really have it bad. Just remember that you've got other duties too, okay?"

Jack nodded, smiling at his friend's approval. Bunny grudgingly tapped his foot against the floor. "I'll ask Sandy to send some dreams their way." He jumped in and was gone.

Edward slipped on the unsteady surface of the edge of the hole. Alphonse caught his arm before he could completely topple, but that didn't stop the teen from letting out a steady stream of cuss words first. Winry was looking around the room suspiciously. "Don't tell me that was Jack Frost," Edward crossly said.

"Hey, it wasn't me, that's all I know."

Edward grumbled as he reached out to turn the door knob so he could open the door. Grinning with mischief, Jack jumped to the ground and reached out ahead of him with his staff to tab the door. A sheen of frost twisted up the center of the wood, covering a good third of it. The short teenager jerked backward in surprise.

Jack laughed, and sent out a push of will to the wind. A gust swept into the room, ruffling Winry's hair good-naturedly, and picking him up. He flew out the window, pulling the window closed as he did so. He twirled in the alley for a second, and then shot up high into the air. Life was good.

* * *

He went to visit Hughes at work that night. The man still hadn't come home, even though it was past nine, and Elicia had been worried. Gracia had already put her to bed, leaving him free to go see how busy Hughes was and laugh at him. No paperwork for the Spirit of Winter, no sir.

Hughes was standing by a table, holding a map, book, and newspaper and glancing between all three. He seemed to be looking for something in particular, and was heavily frowning. Jack leaned his staff against his shoulder and peered over Hughes's head, trying to see what was causing him so much distress. The soldier was making marks and drawing lines all across it, murmuring things like "Ishvalan massacre…" to himself. After a few seconds of studying his handiwork, he jerked back suddenly. Jack moved out of the way just in time to avoid being run through.

Hughes whipped around to look at someone else in the room. Jack jumped, having not noticed them there before. Hughes had probably heard the door close, now that he thought about it. The strange woman smiled at the lieutenant colonel. "Hello. Well, it's more like goodbye."

Jack was too busy thinking about the absurdity of the situation to notice, but Hughes caught on to the woman's purpose and the tattoo on her chest. "Nice tattoo…" he said, and the woman's smile grew. Clearly it meant something. Hughes was edging away from the table ever so carefully.

"You've been digging around a bit too much for your safety," the woman said, and then a part of her hand – her _fingernails?_ – extended out, shooting across the room towards Hughes. The soldier dodged, flinging his arm out to throw a push knife at her, and flung himself out the door by slamming his shoulder against it. He got up, and hobbled away, hissing "Damn it" as he did so and clutching his arm. Jack gripped his staff tighter and glanced at the woman.

She yanked the knife out of her forehead, and said, " 'Damn it'. You took the words right out of my mouth…"

Jack didn't stick around to see if she said anything else. He ran out the door after Hughes, and then stopped. The woman had stood up and was walking towards the door. Jack slammed it closed and pressed a hand over the door knobs. Ice started to form over the edges of it, and he could picture the woman standing on the other side and looking at them in confusion. He focused on the inside of the knobs, having solid ice crack its way in and settle down. She could bang on the door all she wanted, but she wasn't going to be able to open the door until the ice melted. It wouldn't take long, but it would buy Hughes some time. She could always cut the door down with her… fingernails… but that would probably be a little too obvious that something was wrong in Central.

With that done, he again picked up the trail after Hughes. The blood drops on the floor were a dead giveaway as to where he had gone. Jack almost ran into him as he was coming out of the telephone room. The secretary who was usually there was trying to stop him so she could use the first aid kit in her hands to patch up his shoulder. Hughes ignored her, setting off down the hall at an extremely fast pace for one with so much blood coming out of his shoulder.

Jack jogged past him, and took to checking side hallways and doors to make sure no one else was waiting for the soldier. If the tattoo meant something, it probably symbolized some group. There could be more. Hughes kept going, oblivious to his protector. Jack didn't see anyone until Hughes walked out the doors into the night air. It was only then that he stopped. Jack looked back at him, confused, and then swept his gaze over the area in case Hughes had seen someone.

"Jack," Hughes said, carefully. The teenager looked back at him, confused. The man smirked slightly. "The frost on the ground is a dead giveaway. It's beneath your feet."

Jack glanced down at the frost that had settled around him. There was more, natural frost covering the ground in the area, but it was much thicker where he was standing to an obvious extent. Hughes hadn't moved, so Jack reached out with his staff and tapped the ground in front of Hughes twice. Frost spiraled out from the spot in two different directions. Hughes smiled at the acknowledgement, before sidestepping the patterns out of courtesy ad continuing on his way. Jack walked beside him for a few seconds, before a gust of wind picked him up unexpectedly. He fumbled for a second, before looking down at the area below. He could see Hughes stepping into a telephone box and dialing a number. But he could also see someone approaching him.

"Put me down!" Jack cried out, and the wind hesitantly dropped him next to the telephone box. The other person had already beat him there, and was holding a gun to Hughes's head. Hughes corrected her about a mole under her eye, and the person grinned, swiping a hand across her own cheek. The mole appeared. Hughes turned back around, burying his face in his hand and muttering obscenities about the situation. The other person seemed to find this amusing.

Hughes whipped back around, having taken the opportunity to pull out another push knife. As he turned back around, though, he came face to face with a perfect impersonation of Gracia. He froze. Jack didn't.

He swung his staff as heavily as he could, cracking it heavily against a tree branch above him. The other two froze at the sudden sound, turning to look for the source. Jack ignored them, swinging his staff again. It slammed against the branch again, and the wood cracked. One more hit, and the large branch fell and hit the ground. It paid to be stronger than the average human some days.

"_Hughes, this better not be about your family again…"_ Jack could vaguely hear Mustang saying from the telephone.

Jack swung his staff again, but this time not at the branch. He used it to channel the wind in the direction he wanted it to go, picking up the branch and throwing it at the strange, shape-shifting person. The branch hit her solidly and carried her about twenty yards away before it lost enough momentum to let her drop.

Hughes used the distraction to pick up the phone. "Mustang, one of the higher ups is causing all the riots and destruction!"

Now that the phone was turned away from him and pressed against Hughes's ear, Jack couldn't hear the conversation. He didn't particularly care what was said as long as Hughes got his message across. He held the staff firmly, watching the strange person as they stood up. They took the form of a male now, with long spiky black hair and attitude issues written across their face. Actually, he kind of looked like a girl…

"Well, that was an interesting trick," the person said. "Don't think that was the lieutenant colonel, though."

Jack picked up a handful of dirt and blew on it, creating a snowball out of the soil. He hurled it at the person, smacking him straight in the face. The guy paused, wiping dirt and snow from his face. "Well, this just might be fun," he said, grinning.

Jack agreed.

Hughes had turned in the telephone box to watch, just in case the male got closer to him again. Jack kept him off, throwing every imaginable weapon from his surroundings at the person and making the surface as slippery as possible. The male was beginning to get frustrated, but Jack wasn't very sympathetic. He whipped his staff in front of him, forming a temporary barrier of ice between him and the strange man. His opponent started running, trying to get around the boundary. Jack kept pace easily, lengthening out the ice.

"Jack, let's go!"

Jack rebounded off the wall to maintain momentum, shooting off quickly in the opposite direction to completely seal off any way for the man on the other side to get through to them. With a sharp gesture of his hand, the wind came down and pushed him towards Hughes. The military officer had waited, and a large grin broke over his face as he saw the frost path coming closer to him. He didn't know, but his expression was mirrored in the face of the winter spirit.

"Come on, I'm going to go meet Mustang. We'll stop this before it really gets started." Hughes turned, jogging away from the military complex. Jack flew beside him on the wind, occasionally looking back to make sure the man hadn't broken through yet. More likely than not, he had just give up and decided to go around. Jack turned back around and willed himself up a bit, looking for anyone coming towards Hughes at a too-fast pace. Hughes felt the sudden absence of the cold wind and glanced around. Not seeing anyone, Jack drifted back down a bit, low enough for him to tap his staff against the ground. Hughes smiled to himself at the sight of the frost pattern, but didn't slow down.

Hughes ran down three streets, took four apparent shortcuts through alleys, and jaywalked three times before he allowed himself to slow down. He leaned against the wall of an alley to catch his breath. With his head bent, Jack couldn't see Hughes's expression. He planted his staff in the ground and lightly jumped up to the crook of it, watching both ends of the alley by turning his head every few seconds to make sure no one was coming.

Hughes tilted his head back, knocking it lightly against the wall beside him. "Ah… This feels so surreal. I could swear this is a dream, but… You don't really dream in color, do you? Just neutrals, really… And you don't have much control over your actions." His laugh trailed off a bit, in a sad way. "I'm sorry… I wish I could see you, or hear you at the very least."

Jack shrugged. "Hey, not your fault. I'm glad you even acknowledge my presence. Sorry about kind of freaking you out with all the…poltergeist stuff."

"Hey, later, when we've got time, could you find a way to explain how-"

A loud sound slapped the walls of the alley. Jack jerked in surprise, whipping around to look for the source of the sound. He saw a figure at the other end of the alley, slowly lowering a gun. He recognized the long, spiky hair as the man started to walk away. A streetlight illuminated his face, clearly showing off the smirk he was wearing.

Jack yelled in anger, jumping forward with his staff. The wind carried him over the head of the man and he skidded to a stop in front. The man stopped as frost spread out in front of him. He frowned edgily before banishing the expression and smirking again. "Too late, whoever you are," he taunted. "This little birdy's gotta fly now. We'll play cat and mouse later, alright? Watch yourself and make sure you don't turn into the mouse."

The man seemed to fold in on himself, turning into a much smaller shape. Jack jerked back as a raven flew over his shoulder, cawing victoriously into the night air.

Jack gripped his staff tighter, about to take up pursuit.

A burst of flame engulfed the winged animal. The bird dropped out of the sky with a shriek of pain and then proceeded to roll on the ground, knocking out the fire as best as it could. He rolled over once more, turning back into the human form. Jack whipped around, turning down the street to look at the new player in this match.

The flame alchemist strode forward a few more steps, snapping his fingers again. The man on the ground fell back a few feet, trying to smack the flames off again.

His yelling and the gunshot seemed to have awoken a few people, and Jack could see lights turning on in a few houses. He knocked his staff against the ground, sending up a cold sheet of ice across most of the nearby surfaces. Any residents would have trouble opening their windows or doors. They wouldn't be able to inadvertently put themselves in the line of fire.

"Flame Alchemist," the man snarled, getting to his feet. "You got here fast."

"Homunculus," Mustang deadpanned in return. The emotionless face was somehow worse than any angry expression he could've worn. Jack stepped back a few paces, letting him take over. It wouldn't do anyone any good if Jack melted from the fire. He didn't know if that was possible, but if any fire was hot enough to do the job, Mustang's was.

The colonel snapped again, sending the homunculus skidding backwards again. "Come on now, that's not fair," the strange man said. "Seems like you want to be rid of me."

"Shut up and die."

"Harsh." The homunculus cracked his neck absently. "Sorry, but I wasn't supposed to get into a fight with anyone." As he spoke, Jack raced up the side of the alley, coming to a brief stop on the top of the roof. Using the wind, he began gathering together piles of snow and ice. "Better go before I get into trouble."

He turned again, smoothly changing into a cheetah as he did so. Jack's movements were only a split second slower, knocking the mini avalanche down into the street. The cheetah disappeared into it with a yelp of surprise.

Mustang started walking forward, and without breaking pace, called out, "Frost. You better get out of here."

Jack scowled, tapping his staff against the building he was on in discontent. Mustang saw the frost out of the corner of his eye and responded appropriately. "I don't doubt you can handle yourself, but I don't think you're going to want to see this."

Jack paused, considering the words. He grimaced, looking at the person who was shaking snow off of himself as he climbed from the snow drift. Mustang had a point. There were some things he didn't want to see.

He flew down, causing streaks of frost to go with him to symbolize his leave. Mustang nodded slightly, but as the frost disappeared behind him, didn't notice it leading to the alley. Jack landed by Hughes, only having to run forward a few more paces to reach the still body. He crouched down beside him, resting a hand on his shoulder. Jack ducked his head, trying to look at Hughes's expression. Had he died instantly? Or in pain?

Hughes's hand shot up, returning the death grip Jack had on him. The winter spirit jerked in surprise, but the hand refused to let him go. Hughes opened his eyes and looked at him. A faint hint of a smile graced his lips.

"Hey… You know, it's a shame more people can't see you. I'll bet people would think of you as the hottie if you went to high school."

"You can…?"

"Yeah. Weird, huh? Guess that means I'm dying." Hughes's smile became tighter, more pained. "That kinda sucks. Is that Mustang I hear?" he asked, referring to the explosive sounds they could hear from the street.

"Yeah. Kicking the crap out of the homunculus right now."

"He'll be fine. I don't think Mustang will have a scratch on him when he's busy handing it to the long-haired freak."

Jack smiled wryly at the dying man's joke. "Do you always have to do things for other people?"

"Jack, it's my specialty." He squeezed his shoulder. "Hey, can you do something for me?"

"Sure." Jack nodded. "As long as you do something for me. The alchemists call it equivalent exchange, don't they?"

"Hah! Yeah, they do. Sounds like they're rubbing off on you a bit," Hughes said, laughing. "What is it?"

"Hang in a bit longer. I've got a friend who can get you help. It'll just take her a second to get here." He'd been going to meet Tooth tonight. She wanted to see the kids he'd been talking about so much for herself. She should be here any minute now.

"Ah, I doubt it'll do you much good whether I hold on for ten seconds or ten minutes. Sorry, I think I'm done for. I'll give it my best shot, though."

"A-alright. What's the favor you want?"

"Keep an eye out for the Elric brothers, would you? They're a bit of a hassle, I know, but they've got a good spirit and they're going to do what I can't."

"Do what?" Jack asked.

Hughes grinned fiercely. "Push Mustang up to the top. Kick the goddamned Fuhrer right out of his high chair and put in a true leader."

Jack tilted his head slightly, giving him a look. "Tell Mustang that. I'd like to see his expression when you do."

Hughes laughed, even harder than before. "Oh, Jack, if only I could've talked to you sooner…"

"You did, remember? And I talked back. We just never really had a conversation," Jack pointed out.

"I guess you're right about that…" Hughes coughed, robbing him of precious breath for a few seconds. "Hey, can you do something for me?"

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on Elicia and Gracia. Tell them I'm sorry I wasn't home in time for dinner."

Jack snorted, shaking his shoulder slightly. "You know they'll be alright with it, but if you really want me to, just tell them yourself."

Hughes was silent. Jack's smile faded slightly.

"Hughes?"

The eyes didn't blink. The smile was slipping ever so slightly as gravity pulled the skin down. His grip on Jack's shoulder loosened.

"Maes?"

* * *

The funeral wasn't beautiful, but it wasn't ugly. It was orderly and professional. There was almost no motion in it. The casket was just a body from a war, from a bloody battle that would forever remain one of the most important fights in history. It had started the Homunculus War and motivated all of the fighters on both sides. Another soldier had died in that battle as well. The side of the homunculi had been riled up when news of the death of Envy had come in. There hadn't been enough ash left to collect. Between Mustang's fire and Jack's wind, they had made sure of that. The backstabber would have no funeral.

Jack cast his eyes over the crowd. No one could see him as he paced around the burial site, moving in between the people to see who had attended. He didn't recognize very many people. He had never spent much time at Hughes's work place. It was much too boring. He did, however, see Hughes's family, Mustang, and a blond woman who worked with the two standing in the crowd. She was with a few other men, and he assumed from the way they were all standing together that it was the group Mustang usually worked with.

He paused in his wanderings when he noticed the Elrics and Winry weren't there. Of course, he remembered, the three had left on a train two days ago. The thought struck him that they had been spared the pain of loss for a few months until their return. Mustang and the others wouldn't send word in form of a messenger or letter. Their commanding officer would tell Edward Elric himself, and leave it to him to tell his brother and friend. The death of a friend was not to be made impersonal.

They lowered the coffin into the ground. The crying had been almost non-stop, but most of it had been silent. A few loud sniffles came through now as they began burying it. Jack watched for a few minutes before turning away. Elicia's cries were loudest of all. He crouched in front of her, holding out his hand to take hers. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "It's going to be alright. We'll-"

He gasped sharply as her hand went through his on a path to wipe her eyes. She sniffled louder and Gracia held her closer. Jack clenched his eyes shut before standing up. He walked a few paces away to the head of the burial site and sat down where the headstone would later be. From his position, he could look straight down into the pit as the gravediggers refilled the hole, burying a father, friend, and warrior under the soil.

It took them about twenty minutes to do it. The crowd had begun dispersing as they did so, and Gracia had ended up taking Elicia home. The poor girl had been crying so hard, and it wouldn't be fair to make her stand through the entire thing. The rest of the mourners had finally trickled away, leaving only a few people behind. One by one, they turned and went back home, until only two remained.

Mustang stared down at the freshly dug-up soil. Hawkeye was standing a bit off to his right, simply observing. "Sir…"

"We're going to win this fight." He turned, looking at her. "There's not going to be a force that can stop us from doing it."

Hawkeye nodded grimly. "Where do we start?"

"We find out who's been pulling the strings. We stop this from going any further. I'll be damned if we all die because we didn't act fast enough." Mustang's hands were clenching and unclenching, clearly controlling the urge to light something, _anything_, on fire. But the only thing he would have done that to at the moment was already dead and gone.

"Who all should we tell?"

"I'll meet the Elrics in Dublith in a few days. They need to know. I suspect the homunculi will realize we know, and even if we don't tell the Elrics, they'll assume we have. It's better to err on the side of caution, in this case." He unclenched his hands carefully one more time. "Obviously, the immediate group we work with. As soon as we can clear them, the Armstrongs."

"Both of them?"

"Yeah. I can't believe Olivia wouldn't side with us, and she's a powerful ally to have. As soon as we can prove Grumman isn't involved either, we'll let him in on it as well. We've got this, Hawkeye."

"Sir, I'll advise you don't be too over-confident."

Mustang's smirk was a deadly one. "Oh, I'm not. If anything, I'm being under-confident."

"Sir?"

"We've got friends in high places." Hawkeye frowned, but Mustang pointed at the tombstone. "Don't you think it's a bit warm for frost?"

The swirling pattern of ice and frost was quickly encompassing the back of the stone and tracing around the front. It stopped, leaving only the name uncovered.

"I hope the homunculi know what they got into, because they're not getting out of it."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Part Three**_

Mustang knelt in the cold room. He couldn't see anything. That was ironic, considering he had just seen too much from the Truth. He could feel Hawkeye's blood on his hands, still, and hear her ragged breathing. She wasn't dead yet, at least. That was a small miracle.

"Hawkeye?"

"Here, Colonel," she managed to gasp out. "That was incredibly stupid of you."

"Yeah, can you rant at me later for it?"

"World's ending. Might not be a later."

"Good point…" He looked around absently, frowning. "Damn, this is a mess. Can't snap without my sight."

"You can't…?"

"Not a thing." He grimaced. This was going to be hard… He was pretty sure he was already dying. He felt like it. He'd already sustained several wounds, and the burn on his side was giving him maneuverability issues. With a hint of regret, he remembered hearing Hughes's words drifting out as he was dying, talking to no one. He'd been speaking to the fairy tale his daughter had created. Maybe he had really been there, though. After all this, Mustang wasn't really one to judge.

"Hawkeye, stay down until the fighting's over."

"That's going to be awfully soon if the world ends," she responded, gritting the words out.

"You can't help in this state. Just stay here." He could hear people moving closer. They were probably going to take him somewhere else to be sacrificed. There wasn't much he could do, though. He doubted he'd even be able to walk in a straight line without his vision right now, let alone from the blood loss that was causing him to feel light headed.

…_can see you clearly on a starlit night…_

Oh, God kill him if he had to die while his head played bad music over and over in his head.

"Come on, let's get ya somewhere warm," Mustang heard someone murmur. There was a shuffling sound in front of him, next to Hawkeye, as if someone were crouching down. "It's gonna get a bit nippy with Frostbite around."

Knowing for certain that everyone in the room was going to think he was insane, Mustang said, "Can you keep her safe?"

There was a surprised sound from the newcomer. "W-What?"

"Mustang, who are you…?" Hawkeye trailed off, undoubtedly noticing that he wasn't looking at her or anyone else in the room for that matter. "…talking to…" she finished quietly, confused.

"Yeah," the voice responded. "Kinda plannin' on that already. Sorry, I'd take ya two, but the others need ya here to be up some homunculus."

"I can't fight without my vision. I'll hurt someone."

"Well, hopefully ya'll hurt the bad guys. Don' worry about it. Frostbite'll make sure yer flames go where they're s'pposed ta, so long as ya listen to his directions."

"What are you doing here?"

There was a smirk in the voice. "Ya really think that yer the only one who'd stand up ta these guys? Buddy, yer in good hands. Just leave it at that."

"Who…?"

The voice was silent for a minute. "Think of us as Maes Hughes's last gift ta ya. Listen ta Jack, an' he'll get ya through this. Don' waste time askin' so many questions. Ya'll never see us again, I don' think, but it doesn' really matter all that much. Go kick some butt, alright?"

Mustang nodded.

"Hold on, Lt.," the voice said, literally saying 'L T'. Mustang felt his knees dip down slightly as the ground opened up and heard Hawkeye's surprised shout. A second later, his knees rose back up. He reached a tentative hand to see if she was still there, but instead of brushing skin and blood, his hand knocked into a flower.

A wooden object knocked against his shoulder. "Come on. Like the kangaroo said, we don't have a whole bunch of time."

"Kangaroo…?" Mustang frowned.

"Well, he says he's a bunny, but he's got identity issues. He'll figure it out one day. Alright, on my word, snap your fingers in this general direction." He heard a rapping sound of something tapping the floor ahead of him, a bit to the left. "Give a sec to shield the others." A few seconds passed, and all he could hear were the hesitant footsteps of the approaching men. They had stopped when Mustang had started talking to himself, and had been especially hesitant after a hole opened up in the ground and Hawkeye had vanished.

"Alright, Colonel!"

He snapped his fingers.

* * *

They moved down the hallway; chimeras, alchemists, alkahestrists, and invisible teenager moving as a single pack of wolves. The lion's den was up ahead, but the canines far outnumbered the felines in this fight. Mustang could clearly hear the sniffing of the chimeras as they continuously checked that no one was coming at them immediately.

Mustang had his right hand on a staff. He and Jack had gotten into a rhythm as they moved. Jack lifted and set the staff down to a specific beat, and Mustang made sure to match it. He followed the slight tugs and pushes Jack gave with the staff to make sure he didn't run into a wall. Now was not the time to be uncoordinated. The others hadn't even bothered asking what was there that they couldn't see. They had wisely decided to just ignore it for the time being.

"We can't fight this for you," Jack said softly beside him. "This is the most we can do."

"As long as we make it, this'll be enough," Mustang replied shortly.

"And if it's not?"

"It's not like anyone will be around to complain."

Jack grunted. "Good point."

None of the people behind them said anything. They just let the crazy, blind, human flamethrower alchemist continue on his merry way. He suspected that when the fighting was done, not a single one of them would ever mention it again, and if pressured, would deny such a scene had ever happened.

"I thought it was just you. How many are there?"

"You mean like Bunny, me, and anyone else?"

"Right."

"Five, but not all of them are here. Two have jobs that require twenty-four hour supervision. If they didn't attend to that, the five of us would be in serious trouble. The third can't do much, sadly, but neither can Bunny. They're trying to evacuate the wounded and get them patched up."

"Where are they going to?"

"The Warren."

"Where's that?"

"Somewhere out of reach. If this blows up in our faces ,anyone there will be safe."

"I don't think you understand. If that's activated, it'll kill everyone in the country."

"That's why I say they'll be safe. They're not even on this continent."

"Wait, how did- Never mind. I'm talking to an invisible person. I won't even bother questioning it."

Jack sounded humored. "How do you know I'm invisible when you can't even see anything?"

"Because everyone behind us is pregnant with awkward silence and hasn't said a word to you. It can't get much more obvious. Also, the kids could see you when we couldn't. Speaking of which…"

"Why can you hear me now?"

"Yeah."

"I suspect that if you had your vision, you'd be able to see me. After Hughes…you know…I asked what was up with him being able to see me. Turns out, when you're dying, you go to your natural instincts. In a lot of cases, it's the same ones you had as a child. You believe that anything can happen as long as it'll make everything right, because it'll always be alright at the end of the day. I don't know. It's awfully complicated, but there's not much more time because the homunculi are in that room right up in front of us."

"However this turns out, thanks for taking his promise seriously."

"It's my duty. I will always be here."

"Really?"

"Really. Even when you wake up tomorrow with your eyesight and hearing and can no longer see or hear me. I'll still be around."

Mustang snorted. "You and the other guy both say that."

Jack became quiet. Then he said, "Get ready. Tell the others to stay behind you so it doesn't give me as much work when I'm trying to protect people."

Mustang transferred the message, and stepped forward into the open room.

* * *

Someone groaned next to him. Mustang opened his eyes, turning his head slightly. He could see the tail of Edward's braid next to him. It shifted slightly as the other alchemist moved a bit. He heard a rather foul word come out of his math.

"I hope you brush your teeth every day to clean out that mouth, Fullmetal," Mustang muttered.

"Shut it."

"I'll admit," Hohenheim said, somewhere far across the room, "it's nice to know I'm not the only one he acts that way to."

"Same." Mustang sat all the way out, blinking and taking in the surroundings. The large cavern he was sitting in had clearly seen better days and would take years to repair. Scattered bits of this and that lay around the room, the only sign that there had been a fight here. The homunculi were gone. Mustang didn't remember which ones had been taken out by whom, but he honestly didn't care so long as they were gone.

He swept his head around the room, taking in all the faces he could see. Most of them were in a similar position as he and Edward were in, sprawled on the floor. He frowned slightly. "We're missing a few people."

Hohenheim grimaced. "Yeah. You guys have been out for about half an hour. People have already started coming the area to see who made it and who didn't. So far, we're finding a lot more alive people than we expected, but also a lot more missing people. Lieutenant Hawkeye has not been seen since she disappeared in the hole, and Alphonse has simply vanished."

Edward shot up at that remark. "What?!"

"His armor is empty but undamaged. Wherever he is, he's most likely alive."

Mustang dropped his head into his hands, rubbing his temples. "Hold on, just… Hold on. I can't remember…"

"How could you have _forgotten_ that fight?!" Edward yelled, almost directly into his ear.

"Ow, shut up! My ears are still ringing from…the explosion?" He looked up at Hohenheim. "What happened with that?"

"A bit of your flames hit a small oil tank. Luckily, it wasn't large enough to do too much damage, but the flying debris and shockwave knocked just about everyone out. The few who were still conscious or who woke up pretty quickly have been moving around, looking for survivors outside of the area. I don't know how much you could hear with all the fighting, but most of the homunculi were killed. When all that was left was the Stone, Edward and I did some alchemy. He tried to return Alphonse back to his normal state and I returned your vision. We still don't know where Alphonse is, but I suspect he is somewhere around here. I wouldn't be surprised if all our missing friends are together somewhere."

Mustang felt like he had the answer to that, but couldn't remember it for some reason. For whatever reason, he kept thinking of Elicia.

"Let's start looking," Edward said, getting up shakily to his feet. Hohenheim nodded in agreement.

"Go ahead," Mustang said wearily. "I'll catch up with you later. I'm going to try to get medical help down here for these guys." He gestured at the rest of the unconscious people around them. "After all that fight, the least we can do is give them a warm bed to wake up in."

Edward shifted guiltily, looking around the room. "This room is right below the surface. We can open a hole in it and just raise the ground up. There should be enough dirt to supply that," he said. Mustang nodded.

"Yeah, let's do that. Let's only raise the places where there is someone, because there's no way we'd ever be able to restore the ground's balance around here if we raised the entire thing."

A few minutes later, when they had made sure their friends were attended to, they set off down one of the hallways. Hohenheim told them that some of the chimeras were already on the move, using their enhanced senses to try and find their friends. The three of them worked on a much vaguer plan, instead just wandering around from room to room, looking for anyone they recognized. They passed a few soldiers doing similar things. It didn't seem like anyone was having any luck.

They reached the room where Mustang had sacrificed his vision for Hawkeye's life. He paused, frowning at the transmutation circle. A flower marked the spot where Hawkeye would've been. "That's…weird."

"You seriously can't remember what happened?" Edward asked.

"It's fuzzy. I can remember everything right up until the transmutation, and then something went wrong with my head." He shook his head, trying to clear out his thoughts. "I can figure it out later."

"Shouldn't we be looking below?" Hohenheim asked. "If Hawkeye dropped down…"

"It's not like there're many other places to look," Edward sighed, clapping and crouching down at the same time. A hole opened up in the ground near the transmutation circle, taking out a chunk of it. The open pit he created showed off a room below. The room was empty, but it raised their hopes. They clambered down the sides into the room and opened the door. A dark hallway opened up before them when they did. Without hesitation, they continued on.

The hall was made of the rock around them. No one had bothered decorating it with anything, and the entire thing was a huge, round tunnel. It appeared to have been made recently and was very unused. There were no lights of any kind, meaning that Mustang had to go back to grab a piece of wood, set it on fire, and then use it as a torch so they could see where they were going. He wrapped a strip of fabric from his uniform around it so he could hold onto the wood even when it got hot.

It took them a few minutes to reach another door. When they opened it up, they found it to be empty as well. Edward clapped again, opening a hole in the ceiling. They could see the large cavern above them where they had defeated the homunculi.

"Anyone else thinking that this random series of rooms down here is looking awfully convenient?" Hohenheim mused aloud.

The answer, although silent, was a definite yes.

They turned back, walking into the hallway again. "How many more rooms should there be, if every one of them is below a spot where someone disappeared?"

"About three more," Hohenheim responded. "Mei, Scar, and Lan Fan have not been found yet, either."

As suspected, they passed three more rooms. All were empty. They didn't bother to check where they were below this time before continuing on their way. The last room was at the end of the hallway. Mustang guessed that they were probably a half mile from where they had started. They could hear voices on the other end of the door, causing them all to stop.

"Shouldn't we go up to the surface?" they heard Mei ask.

"We'll wait for the fighting to go down," Alphonse advised. "None of us are in any shape to fight."

"No one is," Hawkeye said quietly. "Do any of you remember how you got here?"

"I was unconscious on the surface before I woke up here," Lan Fan said. "That's my last memory."

The others were silent, probably shaking their heads or something. Edward gave up and reached forward, pushing the door open. Their missing friends were sitting and standing around the room, but all of them turned to look as the door knocked against the wall. "Fighting's over. We kicked butt," Edward stated, almost as if it had been as simple as teaching an expert bicyclist how to use a bike with training wheels.

"Ed!" Alphonse exclaimed, sitting up straighter.

Edward jerked in surprise as he got a good look at his brother. Then he laughed happily. "It worked!"

Alphonse stood up shakily, his body not quite supporting his movements. Mustang could see nearly all of the kid's bones that were exposed. From his shoulders to his ankles, though, he was covered in an elaborate blanket. It was made of bright yellows, blues, and reds, forming swirling patterns and beautiful designs. It looked completely out of place with the rest of the room and all the injuries, but he wasn't one to ask about it now. He just watched as Edward embraced his brother and Hohenheim smiled.

"Come on, let's get back up to the surface." He clapped, tapping the wall beside him. A staircase crackled into existence out of the wall, using the ground above them and opening up a hole to get out as he did so. Lan Fan smiled wearily and took Mei's hand. The two were the first out, shortly followed by Scar, Hohenheim, Hawkeye, the Elrics, and finally, Mustang. He stopped at the top of the stairs, looking back down into the room. Something about that underground passage bothered him. It couldn't have been made more than an hour ago, really. The soil had still been too fresh. He wanted to go back down and investigate, see if there was something he missed…but he had his obligations as a friend and colleague to the others. It pained him to walk away from the entrance into the ground, though, because he somehow knew that when he had time to come back, the tunnel would no longer exist.

* * *

The end of the world couldn't even delay work for more than a week. Mustang dimly wondered what that said about Amestris's work force.

He had finally been released from the hospital just a few days ago, but he had been working on paperwork and anything else he could while in there. Usually, he would've complained whole heartedly about it, but it was so boring in the hospital he hadn't really cared. The distraction had been nice, actually. Hawkeye was in a room down the hall. He'd heard that she was running the security of the hospital from her room, ordering people around with bandages wrapped around her neck and sustenance being pumped in through an IV.

She had been released a day before him and was the only one in the office when he walked in. It was ridiculously earlier, but the two both shared the feeling that they had wasted a lot of time and needed to make up for it. Surprisingly, he had a legitimate excuse to get out of the office today. He and the other alchemists were working to repair some of the structural supports on buildings that had been damaged by the fighting. It wouldn't be good if they just fell over in the middle of the day.

This left Hawkeye and the others with even more work, as they were going to have to get as much of Mustang's done as they could. The flood of papers had somehow been even worse than ever before, and Mustang could see it beginning to take over the desks of his coworkers. It was coming in faster than they could do anything about it. He almost wished he could stay and help… _Not_.

They could handle it fine without him.

"Colonel. Good to see you up and moving again."

"I would say the same of you," Mustang responded wryly, "but it sounds to me like you've already been up longer than you were supposed to be."

"There were things to be done," she promptly stated.

"Aren't there always?" He sighed, leaning back against his chair. "I suppose this is the last time today I'll be able to sit down."

"I'm sure if you requested that you stay in the office for the day, no one would mind."

"Oh, don't worry so much about me." Mustang brushed it off quickly. "I'm sure a little fresh air will do me good."

"You know the paperwork's still going to be here when I get back, right?"

"Yeah, but I can forget about it longer this way," he said, grinning. She rolled her eyes in response. His grin faded, becoming serious. "Hey, Hawkeye… Do you remember what happened after the transmutation?"

She paused. "Not much. Why?"

"Because my memory hasn't returned much from the time when I was blind. And the other who went missing mentioned that they didn't remember anything after they disappeared until the time they woke up in that room. You were the only one who was awake when you vanished."

She shrugged. "I just remember waking up in the room. I must've knocked my head against something."

Mustang's lips quirked into a smile again. "Aw, Hawkeye, I never knew you were such a horrible liar when it came to me."

She gave him a look, but he just grinned more.

"It's touching, really."

"It's for your own-"

"My own good?"

"Your own sanity."

"Ah, one of those situations, then?"

She smiled. "Yes. One of those situations." Then her gaze shifted, looking over Mustang's shoulder and up. She stared at something for a few seconds, still smiling slightly, before turning and walking over to her desk. Mustang leaned back, looking right where Hawkeye had been staring. She'd been looking at a spot in the wall, it seemed. It was about six feet up, and had been caused by an accidental overdose of…fire…to his desk. The ash had stuck to the wall and they hadn't been able to get it out. His expression turned confused as he tried to figure out what she had been smiling about. When he looked at her again, she was looking back, having been watching him try to puzzle it out.

He opened his mouth as if to say something, but no words came out. He just shook his head, not even sure what to say. She smiled, and he could've sworn it became mischievous. Then it was gone, and she was buried in her work again.

* * *

"_Come on, Frosty. Looks like things turned out fine."_

"_Yeah. For once." Pause. "North's?"_

"_Yeah. I'm hungry."_

"_Me, too."_

* * *

a/n: Sorry, I know this last chapter was a bit rushed, but I just didn't know what to do with it. The only reason I included it was because of the end scene with Hawkeye, where she subtly is saying she saw Bunny take the five of them into the Warren and then create the tunnel later so Mustang and the others can have some semblance of closure. I liked the idea of, in the end, her being the only one who could see them because it was so unexpected.

By the way, I figured their music would be different, otherwise I would've added in a different song when Mustang was kind of absent of mind for a few seconds there. I just made up random lyrics, basically.

I posted all of these at once because I had them all written. I didn't really do a grammar or spelling check, though…

Disclaimer for the entire thing: I don't own Fullmetal Alchemist or Rise of the Guardians.


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